


Bite Sized

by Sofiel



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-15
Updated: 2013-07-02
Packaged: 2017-11-21 05:26:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/593955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sofiel/pseuds/Sofiel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time that Harry met Tony Stark he was just about to close his little bakery shop, Bite Sized. The second time Stark came to the bakery he brought along a pretty redhead that had a phone stuck to her ear and seemed to be trying to placate someone on the other end of the phone. Tony/Harry. Slash. Drabbley.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1st Bite

**Author's Note:**

> My friends and I were complaining about the lack of Tony/Harry slashy goodness in the fanfic world, so I decided to write my own. I'm still writing Easy Fix, don't worry but I've also been reading WynterRavenheart's story A Better Sort of Happinnes (if any of you are interested in a re-imagined Loki/Tony this is the fic for you). It will be Tony/Harry eventually and will be told in drabbly little scenes. This probably won't be long but I just wanted to put something out as I try to get my mind to come up with the next scenes for Easy Fix since only the later scenes want to be written. Enjoy and tell me what you think.

1.

The first time that Harry met Tony Stark he was just about to close his little bakery shop, _Bite Sized_. The shop was located just outside Grand Central Station in New York City so it had its fair bit of customers who only come in for the coffee and the tourists that come in for the baked goods. There were of course the dedicated customers who came in just as the doors opened at one to get their cup of coffee and their muffins. He had even been told once by a customer that he had rearranged his lunch time in order to get the muffins just as Harry opened the doors.

Stark, on the other hand, didn't come to the shop just as he was opening the doors; he had just stormed into the place just as Harry was going around the counter to lock everything down. He had on a nicely tailored grey suit and his hair was floppy on one side and flat on the other, a pair of sunglasses in one hand, though the sun hadn't been out in a week due to the horrible weather, so the sunglasses were completely useless. Not to mention that it was ten at night so the sun wasn't even out.

"Coffee! Tell me you have coffee," he demanded as he slammed his hands on the counter and leaned forward to get in Harry's face.

"We have coffee, yeah," Harry said, with a cautious nod. "Though I sold the last cup a while ago, mate."

He made a noise in the back of his throat that had Harry taking a step back. "Can you make another cup?"

"I suppose," Harry answered and looked over to the just cleaned coffee machine. "Are you willing to wait ten minutes for it to be done?"

"Sure, sure," he nodded, his hair flopping to and fro. He seemed to notice the hair and looked at himself on the glass of the display cabinets to fix his hair. "Hey, what's that there?"

Harry turned around at the question while he made sure that the coffeemaker was plugged in. Stark was pointing at the tray of remaining baklava and had his head cocked to the side in confusion. "Baklava. They have pistachios in them so if you're allergic to nuts I wouldn't suggest eating them."

"Are they good?" Stark asked, his nose was pressed to the glass that Harry had cleaned ten minutes beforehand. "They look good."

"They're sweet," Harry shrugged. "If you're not going to sweeten your coffee, they're good."

Stark spent half an hour at the bakery eating his baklava while Harry cleaned up around him and finally switched the open sign to closed humming all the while. Harry didn't think it was humanly possible to drink an entire cup of coffee that hot with the speed that Stark shugged it down, or to ask for more when he was done. By the time he was finished with the baklava he was on his third cup of coffee and making contented noises under his breath.

"This is really good coffee," he commented as he stood from his chair and wiped at his mouth with some napkins and leaned against his seat contentedly.

"Thank you," Harry smiled brightly. He took the dirty plate and cup and put them on the back counter to clean later while making sure that things were unplugged and that he could finally go home. When he turned around to ring up Stark there was a fifty on the counter and Stark was nowhere to be seen. He frowned and gave a deep suffering sigh at the ridiculousness of busy people before checking the money wasn't counterfeit and taking out the small notebook by the register to note that Stark paid with a fifty and didn't get any change back.

2.

The second time Stark came to the bakery he brought along a pretty redhead that had a phone stuck to her ear and seemed to be trying to placate someone on the other end of the phone. This time the man's hair wasn't in disarray but was stylishly slicked back with some type of hair product.

The pretty redhead put her phone down and smiled brightly at Harry. "Can I get a caramel hazelnut macchiato, please?"

Harry blinked at the request and then looked back at the two coffeemakers he had in his tiny shop. One was for regular coffee and the other was for decaf. He wasn't much of a coffee drinker, but when he did have it he had it with a little milk and that was about it. He was never sure when a little milk was too little or too much so he usually left the sugar, milk, and other little add-ons on top of the counter for the costumers to help themselves.

"Ah, I only have regular and decaf," he said slowly and then pointed to the tray with the add-ons carefully. "If you want to add something it's usually on this tray. Sorry."

The redhead's nose crinkled slightly and she looked over to the grinning Stark skeptically. She picked up the container of vanilla sugar and the container of regular sugar with a raised brow.

"I guess I'll have a large regular, then," she said.

"Make that two," Stark added from beside her. "I want mine with whipped cream on top." He looked at the display case of small cakes and muffins and stepped forward slightly. "Oh, oh, are those blueberry muffins?"

"Yes," Harry answered as he put the two takeaway cups in front of them. He moved towards the fridge under the main counter and took out the siphon bottle to decorate the top of Stark's coffee cup with the desired whipped cream. "The muffins might still be a bit warm from the oven," he added as he swirled the nozzle around the cup.

"Tony, there are muffins in the conference room," the redhead said with a roll of her eyes.

"There's also coffee," Stark shot back as he picked up his coffee and sipped at it. "But not this kind of coffee so I'm getting this coffee and two blueberry muffins. Warm blueberry muffins, Pepper. I'm not sharing my muffins with you."

"Let's all hope you don't," she said with a roll of her eyes as she picked up the vanilla sugar and one of the stirring sticks.

Tony grinned at her boyishly and put his cup down as he took out what appeared to be his wallet.

"It's fine. You didn't get your change from the last time you were here. I can just deduct it from that and give you your change," Harry said quickly as he waved his hand from side to side to discourage Stark from taking his wallet out.

"Hey, no. That was as a thank you for giving me coffee when you were already closed," Tony said brightly and handed over a twenty and picked up his paper bag of muffins and his cup. "You can keep the change."

"But that's fifteen dollars!" Harry exclaimed as the doors closed behind the two people. The redhead already had the phone back on her ear and Stark was licking the whipped cream on top of his coffee.

3.

Stark didn't come by Bite Sized for two months but by the time he figured out why the man had been pronounced dead on the telly after an explosion had taken out the convoy he was in during a weapon's demonstration in Afghanistan.

4.

Two months after Stark was pronounced dead he appeared again. He was malnourished, hurt, a bit darker, and was sporting a glowing blue orb in his chest.

That night Harry watched the entire interview and idly wondered what Stark would do now that he was no longer making weapons while toasting the man's will to live.

5.

He was making his way home from the bakery one Saturday evening when a plane or jet flew above his head. He peered up at the disappearing quadruple jets of fire and wondered just what the Americans had made that would be that small and what it could possibly be used for.

"You'd think people would learn," he muttered to himself as he crossed the street onto 39th and made his way to his building. "Evening, Mr. Fray," Harry greeted cheerily towards the older fellow at the front desk of the building. He put a bag of muffins and a large cup of coffee in front of him and made his way towards the elevator banks.

"Thanks, Mr. Potter," the man said with a bright smile and saluted him with the coffee cup. "And a good evening to you, too, sir."


	2. 2nd Bite

6.

After the complete and total disaster that had come from Stark stopping all productions of weapons for Stark Industries, he had an influx of employees from the New York branch of SI making their way to his bakery, looking haggard and like they had been pulling their hair. Several came in yelling at each other and left yelling just as loudly with a pastry in one hand and an extra large cup of coffee in the other.

Even with the extra influx of new customers Harry managed to only need to hire one person to take care of the register while he did all the baking in the back and came up front when the coffeemaker was empty and when they were low on pastries.

The blueberry muffins did better than the blackberry muffins and he had to keep that in mind as he made new batches to make more of the blueberry ones than the blackberry. Customers also seemed to enjoy the muffins with texture over the plain ones so the ones with nuts had to be updated as well.

7.

Sometime in the middle of May he put up a TV in the corner just above the register so that the business men and women that came into the bakery could see what was happening in the world. They seemed appreciative and there was an increase of tips for Tara, the college student he hired to take care of the register.

Tara was sitting her finals so Harry had been stuck for nearly a week taking care of all the costumers while also baking and making sure that the three stools by the windows and the standing room counter were cleaned. Without the extra help he was closing just a bit later than he'd like which is why he was still in the shop when he heard of the explosion that had occurred at Stark Industries in California.

By the time the CNN report had announced that they weren't sure of the cause of the explosions but that they had witnessed robots fighting each other, Harry had sweeped up the small place and cleaned up the display cases. There were several shots of a red and gold robot fighting a much bigger silver robot and people were commenting excitedly about what was going on. Several people brought out their mobile phone footage, which at times seemed even clearer than the ones that the news crew managed to get.

8.

Harry was startled out of the backroom when there was shouting and cheering coming from the front of the shop while he had been refining the berry tartlets he was going to be selling for the summer. He put down the strawberry he was going to put on the tartlet and made his way to the front of the shop to make sure that Tara was okay and hadn't been overwhelmed by the large crowd.

"What's going on?" he asked Tara cautiously as he stared at the people cheering and looking up at the telly. "Is this another sport thing?"

Tara's blonde ponytail bounced as she shook her head quickly, her blue eyes bright and huge as she pointed up at the TV screen. "Tony Stark just announced that he's Iron Man."

"Who?" Harry asked because he was woefully behind on current events due to the fact that he just didn't care and because the last time he did he couldn't believe that the world was as messed up as it was displayed on the news reports.

"The gold and red robot that was fighting the silver robot in California like two days ago," she said while still pointing at the screen. "Tony Stark just said he was the gold and red robot."

"Oh," Harry said with a frown and then looked at the crowd warily. "Do you need any help with the crowd?"

Tara looked at the customers and then at the almost empty display cases. "I could use some more muffins and those little Chorley cakes. People seemed to like them with whipped cream on top."

Harry raised a brow and didn't comment on how it's supposed to be eaten with a spread or with cheese. People had odd tastes and he wasn't going to comment on them since his family still made fun of him for putting so much sugar in his tea.

"How about the carrot cake?" he asked as he picked up the small notebook by the register and took note of what Tara was saying.

"Oh, we're out of those, too," she said as she finished an elderly lady's order of tea, while asking for the order of the man just behind the elderly lady.

"Give me five minutes to get everything settled, then," he murmured, ripping the page out of the notebook and making his way to the back once again. He stared at the tartlets and wondered at the ingenuity of muggles to be able to make robot suits.

9.

Stark made his third visit to Bite Sized just as he was opening the bakery on a Sunday, his usual slowest day. He wasn't wearing his usual suit but jeans and a t-shirt and sunglasses to ward off the sun.

He switched the sign from closed to open and unlocked the door for the man. Tara didn't work on the weekends so he had the bakery all to himself and the usual Sunday customers.

"Afternoon, Mr. Stark," Harry greeted as he made his way around the counter and towards the register. "What can I get you?"

"Why do you open so late? You could get a lot more customers if you opened in the morning when everyone needs their coffee," he stated as he leaned against the counter while checking out the display case.

"I'm not a coffee shop," Harry said plainly as he pointed to the display cases full of pastries and cakes. "I bake and some people like tea, juice, milk, or coffee with their baked goods. I don't like eating sweets early in the morning so I don't serve them to people in the morning. Sweets are best in the afternoon or at night."

Stark nodded and pointed at the tartlets and the berry thumbprint biscuits. "Hey, I was wondering if you did catering?"

"Depends on how big the order is and how far ahead you put in the order," Harry nodded and put in one more tray of tartlets next to the carrot cake bars. "I'm the only one that bakes so I need to know ahead of schedule so that I'm not bogged down with an order while still running this place."

"What are those fanggy looking cookies?" he pointed to the coffee biscuits for the mugs and Harry grinned. "Are those poppy seed cookies?"

"Ah, no," Harry said and took a mug from the back and picked up one of the 'fanggy looking cookies' to put on the rim of the mug. "They're coffee biscuits. The dark granules are coffee and it looks 'fanggy' as you say because I made the heart a tad too long instead of the usual rounded heart."

Stark looked at the mug and the biscuit with rounded eyes over his sunglasses. "That's genius. Coffee with coffee. Keep that away from the kids."

"It's popular with the college students and the people that work in the shops around here," Harry commented. "It's basically just a sugar cookie with coffee in it and each dark spot is a burst of pure coffee. I've been told it helps them keep awake in boring classes."

"Awesome," Tony said as he nibbled on an edge of the cookie and sipped at the coffee. "This is really great. Where do you get your coffee from? Is this instant?"

"Same coffee for the biscuits as the one for drinking. It's a Brazilian dark roast that my friend likes," Harry said with a shrug and handed over some napkins for Stark to pick up the crumbs he left on the counter.

"Can I get four dozens of these except round?" Tony asked as he licked his lips. "Man, those things are good."

"When do you want them by?" Harry asked with a raised brow as he picked up the notebook by the register to jot down the order.

"Ah, can I come pick them up tomorrow afternoon?" Tony asked as he cocked his head in thought. "Is that too soon?"

"Is tomorrow at two fine for you?" Harry asked as he jotted down the order and looked up from his writing.

"Just in time for the meeting at three," Stark grinned. He eyed the display case again and smiled. "Can I get six of those to go, while I'm here and a large regular?"

"Of course," Harry nodded as he started to place the order.

10.

Stark didn't come to pick up his biscuits at two like he was supposed to. He did send his PA, Pepper Potts, to pick them up at two thirty. The bakery was a bit crowded but the redhead managed to get to the front of the counter and ask for Stark's order. Tara instructed her behind the counter and towards the door that led to the kitchen.

Ms. Potts looked like she'd rather be somewhere else instead of picking up biscuits for her erstwhile boss.

"Mr. Stark already paid for his order," Harry said as he closed the lid of the box and tied the usual amber colored ribbon with Bite Sized printed on it.

"I'm sorry for coming so late," Ms. Potts said as she picked up the box. "I didn't know that he had ordered these until just now."

"It happens; don't worry about it," Harry said with a bright smile. "I hope you enjoy the biscuits."

"Thanks."


	3. 3rd Bite

11.

Stark came to the bakery again two months after the coffee biscuit mishap and this time he came an hour before the door was even open. Harry opened the door because he couldn't obviously leave the man outside in the rain without an umbrella.

"Mr. Stark," he greeted and went back around the counter to continue putting the day's baked goods into the display case. "Would you like a towel to dry off?" Harry asked as he crouched down to make sure that the fairycakes and the muffins weren't touching because he had a complaint about his muffins having frosting on them once and he'd like to not repeat it again.

"Sure," Stark said as he crouched down to stare at Harry through the rows of fairycakes and the bars of mille-feuille. "Do you have coffee yet?"

Harry pointed to the coffeemaker and then towards the door leading to the kitchen. "Help yourself while I go get that towel for you. The mugs are on the side of the coffeemaker. Be right back."

When he returned from the back he had a basket of cellophane wrapped makroud in one hand and a couple of towels in the other.

"You have such weird desserts," Stark commented as he eyed the cellophane wrapped goodies. "Are those fig newtons?"

"Something like that," Harry answered with a small laugh and handed over the towels. "They're called makroud."

"Man, I've missed this coffee," Stark said as he scooted the pot closer and poured himself another cup. "You know, I haven't managed to get my Brazilian dark roast to taste like this and I grind my own beans."

Harry laughed at the comment and shook his head. "It's not that big of a deal. I'll give you the name of the type I use if you're so curious."

12.

Stark managed to come by two weeks later to invite Harry and Tara to the re-instating of the Stark Expo that had been sold out for months and much talked about as well as complained about for just as many months. They each got two invitations and a wink saying to make sure to stand close to the stage to be near all the action.

Harry raised a brow at the invitation and was thankful that it was on a weekend and that he had enough time to plan because he didn't think Teddy's teachers would have been appreciative if he had taken him out of classes for the Expo… or Andromeda for that matter.

13.

"These tickets have been sold out for ages," Teddy mumbled as he put on his gloves and held on to Harry's elbow while they waited on the train platform for their train to get to the station. "This is going to be so awesome. Are we going to meet him, you think?"

"I don't know about meeting him, Pet," Harry commented and made sure that his godson's ears were properly covered by his floppy hat. His hair was dark green and uneven and he had tired of asking the boy to at least get it an even length.

"I think it's cool that Tony Stark gets coffee from your place," Teddy said and scooted closer to Harry as the train was announced to be coming into the station. "Hey, can I get the Stark Phone when it comes out this Christmas?"

Harry sighed and made sure that Teddy was close to him while they boarded the train that was going to Queens. "We'll see. Why do you need a phone for?"

Teddy looked up at him, his nose twitching as if he had smelled something bad. "To call people, Harry; it's what phones are for."

"Who are you going to call?" Harry fired back as he moved away from more incoming people. "Andromeda doesn't have a phone and I don't even think that it'd work back home."

"I could call you," Teddy said quickly. "We don't ever see each other because you're busy with the bakery and I spend the holidays with Gran. Letters take too long anyway."

"We'll see," Harry said again.

14.

When they got to Flushing Meadows the lines were big enough to give anyone a headache. Teddy had become restless within ten minutes of their arrival and paced up and down the lawn for entertainment.

"This is boring," Teddy whined as he stomped over to Harry. "When is something awesome going to happen?"

Harry smiled and patted his head. "Sorry for the boredom," he said and took out the passes to get into the Expo. "Here hold on to this while we wait. It has a holographic part so that should entertain you for a while."

Teddy grinned and grabbed the passes from Harry. "Oh, hey, look, it has Tony Stark's face on it and it turns into Iron Man," he flipped it up and down so that Harry could see the image change. He flipped it again to see the image and grinned dopily at it. "Harry, I think we're in the wrong line. The pass says VIP on it and that line is that way," Teddy pointed towards the line of reporters that were making their way into the Expo hall.

Harry took the passes from Teddy's gloved hands and stared at the gold lettering proclaiming the pass as VIP. "Yeah, I guess so. Hopefully the line isn't as bad as this one."

15.

"That was amazing!" Teddy practically vibrated beside Harry as he dragged Harry away from the scantily clad dancing women and towards one of the displays. "We're going to see everything, right?"

"If we don't have time to see everything today we can see it another day," Harry said as he dodged an excited group of people with Iron Man masks on. "It'll be open for an entire year so you'll have all the time in the world to see everything."

"Harry, look," Teddy hissed as he pulled on Harry's arm and pointed towards a quiet part of the Expo. "I think it's him. We should say hello. You know him, we should say hello. Come on!"

"Teddy, wait, don't go ahead of me!" Harry yelled as he ran after the excited boy.

Teddy gave an excited woop and skidded to a stop in front of the startled man.

"You're Tony Stark," he declared happily before Harry could get to him and keep the boy from sliding too fast and falling on the ground.

"Ah, sorry, he's a bit excited," Harry apologized as he reached Teddy and moved him aside. "That was an impressive entrance, by the way," Harry continued with a smile as he tried to keep Teddy from bouncing all over the place.

"Harry? Huh, didn't think you'd actually come," Stark commented as he took a step back from the bouncing Teddy. "Your date has green hair… and is kinda short. Like and Oompa Loompa."

"This is my godson, Teddy," Harry explained as he put his hands on Teddy's shoulders to keep him from bouncing up and down. "He's a big fan of yours."

"Harry is really bad with technology," Teddy stated with a big grin and looked up at Harry. "He doesn't even have a mobile."

"You don't have a cell phone?" Tony asked with a raised brow towards Harry. "Who doesn't have a cell phone in this day and age?"

"Harry doesn't," Teddy said matter of factly. "I'm trying to convince him to get the new Stark Phone when it comes out but he doesn't see how he'd use it."

"It's more than just a phone you know?" Tony said and took out his own phone to show Harry. "You can play games on it, it has a planner, messaging features, Internet capabilities; it has a lot of features that regular 'ole phones don't have."

"I don't even have a 'regular 'ole phone' as you put it," Harry shrugged nonchalantly and ruffled the hair in the back of his head. "I have a landline that barely gets used and a line for the bakery and I honestly don't need anything extra."

"But what if you need to make a phone call and you're not at home?" Teddy asked with a frown. "There aren't a lot of call boxes here, Harry. I counted all the ones near your flat and there's only two and everyone owns a mobile. Mr. Fray owns a mobile, I saw him playing Angry Birds yesterday."

"Yes, well, if everyone around you was jumping off the Astronomy Tower would you?" Harry asked with a roll of his eyes. "Don't answer that," Harry said quickly when he saw the look in Teddy's eyes. "Just because I did stupid things in school doesn't mean you should be doing the same."

"You never jumped off the Astronomy Tower while you were at school," Teddy muttered sullenly.

"Trouble maker in school?" Tony asked with an eyebrow waggle that had Harry sighing in exasperation. "I remember school, barely. I was mostly drunk or so doped up on caffeine that I barely remember much of it. I built things, I remember that much!"

"It's not that I was a trouble maker as it was that trouble always seemed to find me no matter what," Harry tried to explain as Teddy leaned back against him. "A lot of my professors thought otherwise, of course, but I always managed to be in some kind of trouble just by walking down the hallways."

"Hey, do you guys need a ride back to the city?" Tony asked as he pointed towards the doors. "I'm on my way back and there's room in my car."

"Yes!" Teddy jumped in before Harry could answer and Tony grinned at him while putting on his sunglasses. "This is so bloody awesome!"

"I don't want to be an imposition," Harry said quickly but Teddy was already following after Tony with a megawatt grin on his face.

"No problem," Tony said, keeping the door open for Harry and Teddy. "Just get in behind Happy, there," he instructed as he pointed to the silver car and a woman leaning against it along with a man against the passenger door. "Hi. And you are?"

"Hi," the woman greeted. "Marshal. Pleased to meet you."

"Irish. I like it," Tony said with a bright smile and as he motioned Happy towards the passenger seat. "Where are you from?"

"Bedford."

"What are you doing here?" Tony asked while opening the door, making sure that Harry and Teddy were in the car.

"Looking for you," she answered as she followed Tony around.

"Yeah? You found me," he cleared his throat as he got in the car and stared up at her. "What are you up to later?"

"Serving subpoenas," she answered with a quirky little smile while handing Tony some papers.

"Yikes."

"He doesn't like being handed things," the man that Tony called Happy said as he took the papers from the woman.

"I have a peeve," Tony explained and straightened up the mirror to make sure the occupants at the back of the car were seated and had their seatbelts on.

"You are hereby ordered to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee tomorrow morning at 9 AM," she continued, she still had that small smile on her face and her red hair was fanning forward into the car window.

"Can I see a badge?" Tony asked, leaning back slightly.

"You wanna see the badge?"

"He likes the badge," Happy nodded to her.

The redhead raised the badge so that Tony could see it as well as everyone else in the car. "You still like it?"

"Yep," Tony nodded and started up the car. He looked over to Happy and frowned slightly. "How far are we from DC?"

"DC? Two hundred and fifty miles," Happy answered as the engine revved and they peeled out of the Expo.

Teddy looked between Harry and the front of the car warily before making eye contact with Happy in the mirror. "So, what kind of name is Happy anyway?"

"My name is Harold Hogan," Happy said plainly.

"Cool. Harry's name is Harry," Teddy said with a bright grin. He grinned at Harry and then grinned at the mirror. "Is your real name Harold?"

"No," Harry said with a roll of his eyes. "My parents named me Harry after my maternal grandmother, Harriet Evans, apparently."

"Really, that's cool," Teddy said as he leaned back. "Who was I named after?"

"Hm. Ted Tonks, your grandfather, and Remus Lupin, your father," Harry said as he nudged Teddy's side. "Your mum didn't want your grandmother to have any say in your name because she picked out horrible names… or so I was told."

"Nymphadora is a horrible name," Teddy said with a smile. "I hope she had a nickname or something."

"She preferred to go by Tonks," Harry said with a smile.

"That's still weird," Tony mumbled and Teddy laughed at the comment.


	4. 4th Bite

16.

Going back to working at the bakery on Monday morning seemed a little bit anticlimactic after having spent Thursday night at the Stark Expo and then spending the weekend in the UK to make sure that the family was fine. Tara requested to have that Monday off, more than likely because she got ridiculously drunk last night and was still nursing a hangover. She didn't mention the hangover part but Harry could hear it in her voice quite clearly from several of his own hangovers.

"It's quiet here today," Tony commented as he came into the bakery and propped himself against the front counter. "So, how was it? Did you like it?"

Harry blinked at the man and quickly thought about getting a bell and dismissed the idea because a bell would get annoying very quickly. He grinned slightly and filled a mug of coffee and put it on the counter in front of the man. "It was certainly flashy and explosive. I liked your entrance, it wasn't what I expected; I thought you were going to come out of the stage in one of those stage lifts."

Tony snorted as he blew air into his coffee to cool it down. "That's too tame for me. I needed to go all out for the Expo!"

"The dancing, scantily clad women were a nice touch," Harry said and Tony choked on his coffee. "I didn't understand what they had to do with the Expo but I suppose that it's more as- I believe the term is- fan service."

"There was nothing wrong with the Ironettes!" Tony exclaimed. "You know Pepper didn't like them either; I think she was just jealous."

"I think she didn't like the fact that they looked like they were wearing their underwear in front of a very large crowd of people as well as several news cameras," Harry said with a roll of his eyes. "I think any girlfriend would be tad bit miffed to see their boyfriend surrounded by women baring it all, mate."

Tony blinked and looked around him to see what Harry was talking about. "Ah, Pepper isn't my girlfriend. She says we shouldn't mix business with pleasure… and I think she's dating Happy but she won't tell me about it."

"She's your PA, right? She doesn't have to tell you anything about her life," Harry shrugged at the irritated look Tony shot him. "Especially who she is romantically involved with unless it's causing trouble for you or for your company. They both work for you so it shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"I guess not," Tony grumbled but then he gave Harry a look. "But it's Pepper and Happy!"

"Then you should be pleased to see them together," Harry rolled his eyes and poured another cup of coffee. "They're your friends, don't be such a downer and congratulate them once you are positive that they are indeed together."

"Bah!"

17.

"I have a question."

Harry barely had time to lock the door and not throw out a punch before Tony Stark in a suit and his hair all ruffled accosted his vision.

"Considering that I think I just lost ten years off my life from the fright you just gave me I don't see how not answering your questions would matter at this point," Harry said as he put one hand over his heart and the other clutched at the door frame to the bakery.

"Do you know how to make an omelet?" he asked, looking around him as if spies were watching him.

"Yes, I do," Harry said and stepped back and around Tony. "Would you like to learn how to make one and is it urgent that you know how?"

"The YouTube videos all do it differently and I've gone through three dozen eggs and they still don't look like they do in the videos," Tony explained quickly. "I'm going to Monaco in a week and I need to know how to do it perfectly before I get there."

"I don't live too far from here," Harry said and turned Tony around. "I hope you don't mind omelets for dinner. Thank goodness my kitchen isn't small or anything."

18.

"Good evening, Mr. Fray," Harry greeted the old man at the front desk as he put his usual muffin and coffee in front of the man.

"Good evening, Mr. Potter… and friend," the man gave Tony a once over with a raised brow while Harry went over to his mailbox. "You got some packages earlier."

"Thanks, Mr. Fray," Harry said as the man handed over his packages.

"Have a good night, sir," Mr. Fray waved at him as Tony and Harry made their way to the elevator.

"Good night!"

Tony stared at Harry and then at the closing doors. "He seems like a nice guy."

"He's a bit paranoid about random people coming to the building," Harry shrugged. "People don't usually get through him without ID or without a call to the tenants they came to see. Apparently a couple of years ago the doorman let in a thief into the building and the thief killed an elderly lady and took all her money."

"That's something to be paranoid about," Tony said with a nod as the elevator slowly made its way to the sixth floor. He followed Harry slowly out of the elevator and towards the doors. "Woah. Bachelor pad."

Harry laughed at the comment as he turned on the light and put his light jacket on the hook by the door. "I got it for the kitchen and I live alone so I don't need much."

"I like the fish," Tony said as he pointed to the tank at the end of the T-section that opened up to what looked like the living room. "I remember my bachelor pad."

"I can only imagine what your bachelor pad looks like," Harry said with a small laugh.

"I had it built on the edge of a cliff in Malibu," Tony explained as he took his suit jacket off and draped it over the back of the couch. "I still live in it."

"What do you need with so much space?"

"I have a lot of cars," Tony said. "Really fast ones. I have a lab, too," he added when Harry raised a brow. "Oh, and JARVIS' mainframe takes up a lot of space, too."

Harry shook his head and wondered what exactly a Jarvis was or why framing would take up so much space. It was probably an expensive art piece; one of those modern ones with three black lines and a blue dot on a white canvas.

"Is there any reason why you want to know how to make an omelet other than the fact that omelets are good?" Harry asked and took out the eggs from the fridge as well as the butter dish.

"I wanna break some bad news to Pepper," Tony said as he eyed Harry getting the needed materials.

Harry raised a brow at the answer and motioned to Tony's sleeves. "Roll up your sleeves. I only know how to make a French country omelet, which is what I was taught when I lived with the Delacours. Coincidentally the country omelet is the way that it's made here in the states."

"What's the difference?"

"Hm, the country omelet, has a bit of a brown crust while the classic French omelet is pale," Harry said while putting two bowls on the counter. "It's usually just eggs and a couple of herbs, the omelets aren't as stuffed as they are here; at least they weren't at the Delacour home. Any particular things you'd like in your omelet, Mr. Stark?"

"What do you have your omelet with?" he returned as he stared at the ingredients in front of him.

"I like mine with chives and cheese," Harry said with a small shrug. "A little salt and pepper is all I need."

"Don't omelets usually have meat inside and potatoes and things like that?"

"Omelets aren't supposed to take all day to cook; it's something that can be cooked in a couple of minutes," Harry said with a small smile. "That's my way of telling you I have no meat that would be good in an omelet."

"Okay. I'll have an omelet the way you like your omelet," Tony said and Harry nodded while he took out the rest of the ingredients.

"Alright, lets start on our mise en place," Harry commented and motioned Tony to the counter right next to the stove. "The cheese has already been grated so just put out how much cheese you'd like in your omelet in that bowl right there," Harry pointed to the different bowls. "I'm assuming you know how to crack eggs."

"I know how to crack eggs," Tony grumbled and to prove his point cracked two eggs into the bowl provided for him. "Now I just throw in the chives?"

"You have to cut the chives first, but yes," Harry said and took a couple of strands of chives and quickly cut them into tiny pieces and used the knife to pick up the chives and put them into his own bowl. "If at any point I'm going too fast just tell me so," Harry instructed as he cracked the eggs over the chives.

"Why do you have two of the same pans?" Tony asked as he slowly cut his own chives and pointed to the stove.

"I bought one and the other was a house warming gift," Harry said and began to beat his eggs. "You have to beat it from side to side so that you don't have any strands of egg whites floating about. When that's done, we can start putting the butter in the pan."

"We're not going to put the cheese in first?" Tony asked as he looked over to his bowl of shredded cheese. "The cheese is the important part."

"The cheese is for when the omelet is done; it'll melt inside of it from the heat," Harry said as he put a pad of butter in his pan and scooted the butter dish closer to Tony so that he could do the same in his pan. "Unless you want to put it in the egg now."

"No, I'll do it like you," Tony said as he moved the pan around to get the butter to melt. "After the butter is melted I just put the eggs in it?"

"That's right," Harry nodded as he picked up his bowl and dropped the eggs and chives into the hot pan. Tony followed his actions and poured his own bowl of eggs and quickly picked up the rubber spatula on the counter to spoon his eggs around.

19.

Tony gave Harry back his kitchen once he was sure that the omelet he had made was perfect. Harry took out some ingredients from the fridge again and cocked his head to the side.

"You can set up the table in the kitchen or the living room, whichever you want," Harry suggested while pointing up to the cabinets above his head. "The plates and cups are in the upper cabinets and the silverware in the lower drawers."

Harry ignored the older man's rummaging about as he finished the corned beef hash and hoped that everything tasted good.

"Hey, what is Firewhiskey? I've never heard of it," Tony asked as he peeked his head through the kitchen doorway.

"It's whiskey from where I'm from. As far as I know it's not sold anywhere else," Harry said with a frown as he picked up the pan with the hash and brought it around the doorway. "It causes a burning sensation and warms you up," he continued lightly. "A lot of people also say that it fills your body with courage."

"So, basically, it has a high alcohol proof?" Tony said as he twirled the bottle around to look at it from all sides. "You don't seem like a whiskey kind of guy."

"The minister gave it to me when I left England to live in France," Harry explained while giving a mental wince at the thought of Shacklebolt giving him the bottle a week after the Battle of Hogwarts.

"You know the minister?" Tony asked with a raised brow. "What kind of things do you have to do to know the minister personally?"

"I don't think we're talking about the same minister, mate," Harry said with a small smile. "Would you like a glass for the firewhiskey?"

"How come you haven't even opened it yet?" Tony asked as he stared at the label of the bottle. "If a minister gave it to you I'd think you'd want to celebrate with it right away."

Harry blushed at that and scratched at his cheek in embarrassment. "Well, I never had anything to celebrate or someone to drink it with. All of the people I considered family were back in England and the Delacours only drank Blishen's Firewhisky and Blishen's can quite possibly peel paint and more than likely your stomach lining."

Tony laughed at that and put the bottle on the table while Harry got the cups and ice.

"It's actually not a good idea to drink it with ice," Harry said slowly as he put everything down at the table and sat down. "The heat from the whiskey with the ice is a bit of an odd feeling that I wouldn't wish on anyone. My friends and I dared each other to drink it that way to see who could drink an entire serving of it. But many people have told me that to get the best flavor a single ice cube would be best. It's your choice how you do it, though."

"Nothing like breakfast for dinner with a glass of paint thinner," Tony said cheerfully as he sat down across from Harry at the small table.

20.

Eleven days after the impromptu omelet tutorial and breakfast dinner Tony was on the telly again and this time it was because someone tried to kill him. Harry hadn't seen much except that Tony had decided to join the race and that halfway through a lap of the racing circuit some psychopath had used some electric whips and caused a major crash.

There was a brief fight between the crazy man with the whips and Tony once he put on his Iron Man suit. Tony came out of it alive but it did seem that he was hurt somewhat though the news reporter didn't say how badly or whether he would be okay.

Harry didn't know what the weird feeling he felt in his chest was but he had an odd feeling that it might have been worry for the older man.


	5. 5th Bite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longest chapter I've written, which goes against this being drabbly D: *le sigh*

21.

Two days after the man with the whips tried to kill Tony there was a press release at the California base of Stark Industries where Tony Stark handed over his company to his PA, Pepper Potts. The news reporters went absolutely bonkers and there were a lot of questions being shouted but Tony handed the microphone over to Ms. Potts and waved at her.

Harry idly wondered if that was the news that Tony had wanted to break to Ms. Potts and that's why he had needed to know how to make omelets. He paid it no mind to it much after the news was said as he had started up his summer menu and a new refrigerator had come in that could hold up more things. With this new refrigerator he could actually be able to make his different types of mousse as well as several ideas for pudding pops. If anything the pudding pops would be a big hit with the kids.

He hissed in displeasure as the vanilla pudding he was making for the vanilla-chocolate pudding pops boiled over and ruined the batch. If he was quite honest with himself, Tony Stark was beginning to be quite the distraction for him.

22.

Saturday the 22nd Tony appeared at the front of the bakery in his usual sunglasses and a pair of jeans and a t-shirt at around eleven as Harry was putting some chocolate ricotta mousse cups into the refrigerator by the wall. Harry saw the man's reflection as he closed the door to the refrigerator and turned around.

"Hello," he greeted as he opened the door and quickly closed it behind the man as he went back to the counter to pick up the rest of the cups of mousse and some of the buttermilk pudding bowls he had been experimenting with. "How did the omelet for Ms. Potts go?"

"It came out green and goopy," Tony answered as he eyed the tray on the counter with the desserts that were going to be put in the refrigerator. "Apparently you have to cook things differently when you're in a high altitude."

"Oh. I wasn't aware that you were going to cook for her in high altitudes," he paused as he put the remaining items on the tray in the refrigerator. "I've never done anything in high altitudes so I wouldn't have been able to help you make an omelet that was perfect for Ms. Potts anyhow."

"It's fine," Tony said as he looked about him.

"Would you like to join me in the kitchen while I finish up with the first batch of things to be put out?" Harry asked while pointing to the door on the other side of the counter. "You can try out my new banana-blueberry muffin cake. You seem to like blueberries."

23.

Tony situated himself at a corner of the kitchen with a large cup of coffee and the freshly made banana-blueberry muffin cake to watch Harry flit about from place to place making sure that everything was going perfectly.

"There's something different about your place," Tony commented as he looked around the kitchen and took a bite out of his cake. "I can't put my finger on it but there's this feeling."

Harry raised a brow and looked up at the ceiling as he thought about the comment. It wasn't possible that Tony could be feeling the wards since Harry himself had a hard time noticing that they were there most of the time. You could say whatever you wanted about the witches that came out of Salem Witches' Institute but they could make some amazingly well placed wards.

"I've decided to try out gluten-free recipes for a while," Harry said lightly. "You'd be surprised but there are a lot of people that can't have gluten or that have dairy allergies. I'm learning a lot by making these recipes and," he paused as he moved another small bundt shaped banana-blueberry muffin cake over to Tony. "And looking at you, I can tell that they taste good."

Harry smiled as Tony took a sip of his coffee and continued to eat his cake. He turned slightly to go back to his baking of a chocolate cake when something caught his eye peeking from the edge of Tony's t-shirt. He did a double take and stared at the silver- silver as in metallic aluminum foil silver not grey- branching up Tony's neck. There was a greenish black tint to the branches as well that Harry assumed were Tony's veins. But the silver was worrying.

"I didn't know you were seriously injured in Monaco," he said as he stepped forward and pointed to Tony's neck. "Did one of those whips catch you?" Harry asked as he touched the silver line with his pointer finger.

Tony wrapped his right hand around Harry's wrist and leaned back from the touch. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

Harry blinked and the silver shined as if it were in tandem with a heartbeat and the branch of veins grew just a tiny bit longer with each pulse of silver.

"Is that," Harry paused and tried to figure out how to phrase what he was going to say without sounding insensitive or too nosy. " It's probably not a good idea for that silver line to get to your brain because it will more than likely kill you. It'd be a shame to lose someone of your intelligence."

"Shit," Tony swore and let go of Harry's wrist to feel his neck with shaking fingers. "Can I use your bathroom?"

Harry blinked at the request but figured the man just wanted to see the branches of silver around his neck in the mirror. "Through that door. It's the door at the end of the hall; can't miss it since the others are all storage closets and freezers."

"Okay. Thanks."

Harry watched him go with concern.

24.

Harry became even more concerned when Tony didn't appear in ten minutes. Yes, there were times when one needed time but he had just gone in to look at himself in the mirror, right? But he didn't just want to knock on the door and the man was on the commode or something; that'd be awkward and weird. Then again, he had been looking kind of pale and his fingers had been shaking. It could be that he fainted or something in the bathroom and cracked his skull open on the bathroom tiles and now he's slowly bleeding out on the ground.

Harry gave an internal sigh and made his way to the door that would lead to the hallway. The door to the bathroom was closed and there was some light that shined out into the hallway, but there was no noise from inside the room.

Harry tensed his shoulders and knocked on the door.

"Tony, are you okay?" he asked as he knocked again. "Please don't be dead in my bathroom," he pleaded to the ceiling as he twisted the knob of the door and opened the door slightly. He frowned when the door opened up and Tony was against the wall looking deathly pale. "Don't be dead, don't be dead." Harry rushed to the man's side and quickly searched for a pulse and breathed a sigh or relief when Tony blinked at him and tried to get a gasping breath into his lungs. The usual blue glow of his reactor was nowhere to be seen on his chest and he looked around him and found it over by the door. He looked back at Tony, the silver in his veins was gone but the black-green of the branching veins was still there.

Tony blinked again and his finger twitched on his thigh.

"I'm not a doctor," Harry grumbled and scrambled over to the reactor and stared at it thoughtfully. There was a part that looked rusted out and Harry showed it to Tony. "I don't think it's a good idea to put this back in you like this. You'll get metal poisoning or rather more metal poisoning than you already have," he looked around Tony again noticing the small case by Tony's thigh. He grumbled under his breath but looked through the case quickly, noticing several missing squares and quickly taking one of the small metal squares out trying to figure out how to go about putting it where it was supposed to go.

Tony groaned under his breath, but didn't manage to make words. He was staring at the reactor in Harry's hand like it was going to disappear all of a sudden.

"Two blinks no, one blink yes," Harry instructed quickly as he kneeled closer to Tony, and showed Tony the reactor. "Do I have to take out the rusted square?" Blink. Harry scrambled about trying to figure out a way to get the rusted metal out of the reactor. He got to his feet quickly and rummaged under the sink for the first aid kit he was required by law to have in his bakery—not that he didn't have two others, one in the kitchen and one in the front of the bakery. "Tweezers, tweezers," he mumbled and in his haste to find what he was looking for ended up dumping everything on the floor by Tony's feet. He quickly did the change of metal squares and stared at the rust still around the lip of the reactor with concern.

Tony's eyes were closed and his breathing was nearly non-existent. He stared at the reactor again and quickly came to the conclusion that Tony was going to end up dead in his bathroom if he didn't do something quickly about it. He cautiously took out the wand that he had in his right pocket and tapped the reactor twice in quick succession watching as the rust disappeared and the reactor sparked back at him in an arch of blue electricity.

Tony's skin had gone even whiter than before and Harry nearly panicked at the thought that he had dawdled too long and Tony was already dead when the man gave a barely there breath. Harry leaned over Tony's body, staring into the hole where the reactor would go and quickly tapped it twice as well, the blue electricity arching towards him again. Without pause he inserted the reactor back into Tony's body, but nothing happened. The veins on his neck were still dark, the reactor was dull, Tony was still pale white and not responding.

"Tony?" Harry questioned as he tapped the man's cheek lightly. "Tony, come on," Harry murmured again, but the man didn't even acknowledge him with a blink of his eyes. There were veins or poison or something branching around the reactor and Harry winced as he tried to get Tony to respond again with a decidedly more desperate sharp slap on his face. "This won't do, this just won't do. You can't die!"

" _Reparo. Trado. Usque. Epî._ "

Harry swirled his wand about trying to find a spell or something to make Tony wake up. He paused as the spell came to his head and nearly smacked himself on his head at the obvious spell.

" _Ennervate._ "

Nothing happened and Harry was running out of spells since his repertoire of healing spells only went so far. Hermione did all the healing in their little group and once he left for France he didn't have to worry about healing because he was going to school and he was learning about baking. There just wasn't any time to learn anything extra that wasn't necessary. The times he had needed the healing part of his knowledge it was usually for a burn or a small cut. He had never had to deal with a man dying of metal poisoning or one that had just stopped breathing.

He put his fingers at Tony's neck and didn't feel anything. His fingers twitched in distress and he quickly put his palm on Tony's chest, just above the arc reactor but there was nothing; no heartbeat.

"How am I supposed to fix this?" Harry asked himself as he continued to try and find the heartbeat. His eyes scanned Tony's face and his closed eyes and then down to the arc reactor. "Shouldn't it have worked? It's an electromagnet. The heart needs electricity. It should have started working when I put it inside. Did I put it in wrong? Maybe it needs a kick start."

Harry looked about him and tried to figure out how that was going to happen and looked at his wand as if it would give him the answer. Harry tapped the wand against Tony's arc reactor and the electricity arched again much like it did when he had take the rust off of it.

"Electricity," he said as it finally came to him when a flow arched rather sharply over his arm and around his head. He took the wand away from the arc reactor and tried to gather up the energy that would cause some type of electric charge that wouldn't fry Tony beyond recognition. It was one thing for a man to die in your bathroom; it's entirely another when you fry him after he was dead.

He took another breath and let the electrical ball he had on the tip of his wand fly towards Tony's body.

25.

The sudden gasp of breath and the quickly blinking Tony was completely expected and downright welcomed. What wasn't expected, however, was the sudden arching of blue electricity going from Tony's reactor to Harry's wand and up his arms. Harry dropped his wand on the ground and tried to stop the electricity from going any higher than his arms but it just kept arching rather violently and he figured that this is what he got for trying possibly dangerous medical procedures on a man when he had no medical knowledge to speak of.

"I probably should have just called an ambulance," Harry muttered and tried to slap the electricity away to no avail.

Tony was trying to get his breath back into his lungs and choking on air. Harry was trying to keep the electricity back in Tony's body and away from his as much as was possible, which wasn't much.

"Can you do something?" Harry asked as he tried to move away only to have the electricity arch towards his head and up towards the ceiling. The light above them sputtered and flickered and Harry had all of that as warning before throwing himself over Tony just as the electricity intensified and the light bulb blew up and the mirrors that were stylishly positioned all over the bathroom shattered around them. Merlin, it was like a badly directed muggle movie.

"What happened?" Tony asked as he tried to move Harry away when everything around them stopped breaking and the electricity fizzled out with one last sharp sting to Harry's shoulder.

Harry stared at Tony's glowing blue face and smacked his shoulder sharply. "What is wrong with you?" he hissed at the man. "Why the hell would you go and die in my bathroom? I don't have time to get rid of your body! I have to open the bakery in two hours and I wouldn't even know where to hide your body! My freezers aren't big enough unless I chop you into little pieces."

Tony blinked at him and rubbed at his shoulder while Harry raged. "You could have called an ambulance."

"It wasn't my first thought when I saw you here," Harry said as he scooted back and thought quickly about how it wouldn't be a good idea to sit on pieces of glass. "I thought you were dead and that I was going to get blamed for you being a moron and leaving out your arc reactor! Who does that?! You know it keeps you alive and you took it out. What is wrong with you?"

"I had to change the palladium chip," Tony said with a little shrug and Harry smacked his shoulder again, making the man wince. "The palladium chip is what keeps the reactor working."

"Then find something else to make it work!" Harry hissed at him, getting in his face and poking his collarbone rather sharply. "You can't go about just dying in people's bathrooms because you have to take out your reactor every bloody time the palladium thingie decides to rust. You're a bloody genius, use your brain!" Harry smacked him upside the head and stood up from the ground and gave Tony a hand up. "I can't believe you. Honestly this has got to be one of the stupidest things I've ever seen anyone do."

"You could have just called an ambulance," Tony tried to state again but Harry wouldn't hear any of it and angrily opened the bathroom door and pointed down the hallway. "I would have eventually gotten up and put the reactor back inside."

"I don't care," Harry growled and shoved Tony into the chair he had been in before his trip to the land of the dead. He slammed pots and ingredients down on the table and glared when Tony tried to get up. His shoulder was itching from where the electric charge had zapped him and his neck stung from what he assumed were glass shards.

"What are you making?" Tony asked as he poked at what had been his banana-blueberry muffin cake that he had eaten earlier but had no desire for now.

Harry scowled at him but calmed down slightly when Tony poked at his plate. "Tortuga Rum Cake. You are driving me to making alcohol drenched cakes, Tony."

"Does it actually taste like Tortuga Rum Cake or is it just and imitation?" Tony asked as he stood and stared at the bottle in front of Harry. "I've had it when I've been to the Caribbean."

Harry looked at Tony and shrugged while pointing to the blue bin in front of Tony. "It tastes similarly, though I don't normally sell it as Tortuga Rum Cake, just as regular rum cake. I don't use any Tortuga products."

Tony opened up the blue bin and then picked up the cup Harry gave him. "Do you use Bacardi?"

Harry's nose wrinkled and scooted a piece of paper over to Tony. "I use El Dorado Spiced rum or Cream Liquer if I make it in the bakery and Whaler's Vanille Rum if I'm at home," Harry said and sat back to watch Tony make the cake.

"Why would you use Whaler's at home?" Tony asked in a scandalized tone while he dropped the cups of cake flour into the bowl next to him. "Seems kind of scandalous for a baker to use subpar ingredients in his own home."

"I get the rum shipped to the bakery while I just go to my local convenience store for Whaler's," Harry shrugged and went over to the oven to make sure that it was pre-heated correctly. "It doesn't matter what kind of rum it is in the long run. Any rum will get the same result no matter whether it's the most expensive or the cheapest one on the shelf."

"Am I doing this right?" Tony asked as he picked up a spatula and began to mix the ingredients together.

"You're doing fine," Harry grumbled and rested his head against the wall. He felt antsy for some reason, like there were ants under his skin. It probably had something to do with the stupid reactor's electricity messing with his wand and reacting to his magic earlier.

"Hey," Tony said quickly as he pointed a goopy spoon at Harry's face. "I don't mean to alarm you or anything but the bowls are floating behind you."

Harry's eyes widened and turned around quickly to stare at the silver and glass bowls behind him. He quickly snatched two of the glass bowls for the stand mixer and put them on the table by Tony. "Jeez. What is going on?" he sighed as several of the bowls began to spin rather violently. He squeaked as one slammed against the wall and he tried to stop another one. "Stop. Stop!"

The bowls stopped spinning and crashed to the floor.

"Maybe you need to work on your control," Tony suggested as Harry picked up the bowls from the ground and put them in the sink. "Ah, there's a school upstate that teaches how to control mutant powers," he continued and Harry glared at him.

"Mutant powers?" Harry murmured. "I don't have mutant powers."

Tony pointed to the general air around Harry. "The bowls were floating."

"They do that sometimes," Harry grumbled and leaned against the metal counter with a sigh. A blue electrical charge bounced from his hands to the metal table counter and Tony yelped as the entire table charged. "Augh. Damn it!"

"Ow," Tony whined as he rubbed at his hand where the charge had caught him. "I think you do."

"This is because of your reactor," Harry said indignantly as he pointed at Tony's glowing chest. "It began to throw out sparks and destroyed my bathroom. I'm not the one with the powers here, mate."

"It's not so bad," Tony said and shrugged. "Just take deep breaths. In. Out."

"This is not labor pains," Harry growled and smacked Tony's upper arm. "Stop with the Lamaze thing. I'm fine; I just need a cup of tea or chocolate is all."

"The breathing thing is supposed to work for control, though," Tony grumbled. "Why are you so violent? You keep hitting me."

"To get things through your thick skull," Harry hissed.

"You're kinda cute when you're angry," Tony said with an eyebrow wiggle and Harry smacked him again. "Ow. That was a compliment!"

"Don't think I'm just going to get into your pants after you died in my bathroom," Harry growled and then pointed to the bowls. "That's not how things work. Don't over mix the batter."

"So you want romance and a candlelit dinner?" Tony asked. "I can do that."

Harry's entire face flamed. "Will you just finish the rum cake?"

"How do you like Italian? Or French? We can do French," Tony suggested.

"Tony!"


	6. 6th Bite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> E-mail me if you want scans from my Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook regarding the treacle tart, canary/custard creams. The little girls' b-day biscuits are here: http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/fun-flower-cookies/392546f2-36f3-42fc-affc-ed0494c4e4bb
> 
> Also, I'm sorry it took so long to update.

26.

"Jarvis, get me information on bathroom repairmen in the New York City area. Highlight the ones that do design or that work with designers or contractors," Tony called out the minute he was back in his lab in Malibu.

_"I've found ten repairmen-designer pairs, sir. Would you like to see their past reviews?"_

Tony ignored the juice that Dum-E was trying to hand over to him and sat down in his rolling chair to look up at the different faces of the designers looking back at him. He saw a couple of people that he actually knew from past experience working with them in several Stark Industries buildings.

"Oooh, is that Melissa Williams with Horatio Design?" he asked as he enlarged the woman's face and went over the reviews people had left on her website and in several online blogs. "Make an appointment with her so that she can fix up the bathroom in _Bite Sized._ "

_"The bakery, sir?"_

"Yep. And dial up Harry; I want to talk to him before Melissa goes charging into his territory and he decides to hide her body in a freezer or something," Tony said and brought up his holo-keyboard. "He actually threatened to cut me up into little pieces, Jar, can you believe him?"

_"Is that a rhetorical question, sir?"_

"Don't sass me, Jarvis," Tony warned and perked up as the speakers picked up the ringing phone.

"Bite Sized, _how can I help you?_ "

"Harry, how are you?" Tony greeted and then began to type away on his keyboard. Screens and images flitting back and forth all around him highlighted his face a blue similar to his arc reactor.

" _Tony? I'm alright thanks,_ " Harry answered and he was obviously working on something because his voice kept coming in and out of hearing. " _Is this going to take long, mate? I'm on the bakery phone and it has one of those chords attached and the speaker doesn't work on it. I think it'd be easier to just call me on my mobile."_

Tony's head popped up and he looked up at his ceiling, a grin already erupting on his face. "Did you cave and finally get a cell phone?"

" _Yes, I got a mobile. I disconnected my home phone and it's a lot more practical to have a mobile so that I can communicate with family easier. Do you have a biro handy so that you can write down my number?_ "

"Jarvis, note the number," Tony ordered. "Yeah, I have something handy to write it down."

" _Am I on bloody speaker?_ " Harry asked and rattled off his number. " _Give me a moment while I put these biscuits in the oven. I'll expect your call in two minutes._ "

27.

"So, what are you doing?" Tony asked once he called Harry back and had exactly what he wanted on his screen. "Do you have a camera in your shop?"

" _I'm making flower biscuits for a little girl's birthday party tomorrow. I feel awful for the parents that are going to have to deal with the sugar high from this party,_ " there was the sound of a pot hitting the metal table in Harry's kitchen and Tony raised a brow. " _Yes, there's a camera in the corner of the kitchen and one in the shop proper and another just outside in the back where the rubbish bins are. The previous owner of the property left them behind when I bought this place. I'm not actually sure how it works but Tara's managed to sometimes put up an image of me baking up on the telly in the shop proper when people ask for me. Why do you ask?"_

"I'm just trying to see if there's anything floating around you again so I'm going through your live feed," Tony answered and then gave the holo-keyboard a couple of strokes more. An image of Harry staring up appeared to Tony's right, an image of the store front to Tony's left and the trash dump right in front of him. He moved the trash feed to the side and put the store feed and the feed showing Harry in front of him. "There you are."

" _I didn't even know you could do that? How do you do that?_ " Harry's head cocked to the side and he was obviously watching the camera lens to see whether or not Tony could see him. " _Can anyone just decide one day to go look through my CCTV?_ "

"Not everyone," Tony answered and made the camera zoom closer to Harry. Harry jumped back slightly and his face was contorting into shock. "Is that HammerTech, Harry? Why would you get that trash?"

Harry's eyes obviously rolled and he turned to continue doing what he was doing before Tony hacked into his cameras. " _It's a bloody iPhone, Tony. The bloke at the electronics shop said this was the best kind of mobile there was and it bloody well better be with what I paid for it._ "

"You could have just gotten a StarkPhone," Tony grumbled and then made a note to get Harry a StarkPhone because he shouldn't be going about with a subpar phone in his pocket. "I'll send you a StarkPhone! You could beta test it to make sure it does everything I say it does."

" _I already have a mobile; I don't need another one,_ " Harry said and turned his head for Tony to see that he wasn't the least bit impressed with Tony's offer.

" _Sir, Ms. Williams has acknowledged your appointment and has put time aside to look over the bathroom tomorrow at three in the afternoon, eastern standard time,_ " Jarvis interrupted whatever it was that Tony was about to say and Tony nodded at the reminder.

Tony looked back at Harry as he put ingredients in a bowl and began whisking. "Harry, I made an appointment with a designer to look over the bathroom since I destroyed it the last time I was there. She's coming tomorrow at three so you should probably set some time aside for that."

" _That's not necessary. Only the mirrors and the light bulbs shattered and those are easily replaced,_ " Harry was shaking his head and smiling slightly. " _In fact, I replaced the light bulbs this morning when I came in and you're the one stuck with all the bad luck from the shattered mirrors, which are easily replaced as well._ "

"I already made the appointment and she's a really nice woman."

There was a pause in Harry's kneading of whatever dough he was making and he turned and raised a brow at Tony. " _I'm sure she's a very lovely woman, Tony, and you'd know about it._ "

"Are you implying that I slept with her? Mr. Potter, I'm shocked at such an accusation," Tony said, putting a hand to his chest as if Harry could see him.

" _Well, did you? Not that I'm overly interested in who you do or do not sleep with,_ " Harry said quickly. " _That's your personal business and I shouldn't pry._ "

Tony laughed at the state Harry was in and couldn't help the snickers at the really flustered look Harry was giving the camera. "She's married. I don't sleep with married people. She's really nice and it'll make me feel better about passing out in your bathroom and freaking you out."

" _Alright. But there's honestly nothing to be done with it, mate. It's fine just the way it is and you're just wasting this woman's time._ "

28.

_In hindsight,_ Tony thought as he wedged himself in the circle of a doughnut, _getting drunk and putting on the suit was probably not a good idea in the first place. Or ignoring Pepper, for that matter._ Bad things always happened when Tony ignored Pepper.

He got a to-go box of a dozen doughnuts right after Fury and his psycho super spy stabbed him in the neck. The super spy being his PA. Pepper's new PA. _Whatever_. It was completely out of left field and he was completely and utterly betrayed and has trust issues now. He's sure of it. She probably told Fury that he wanted to sleep with her. Tony never was going to hear the end of this from everyone he knows. Including HR about sexual harassment, _again_. _Ugh._

29.

"So, guess what Harry?" Tony said as a greeting when he finally managed to wedge himself from under a stack of metal.

There were bowls and ingredients floating around Harry and he was whisking at a bowl of ingredients rather fast, his face red and eyes wild.

" _Hm, you've managed to explode your mansion at your birthday party?_ " Harry asked, but he didn't look at the camera.

"Besides that," Tony said, his face still a wild grin. "I just discovered an element! Or, re-discovered it, actually! It tastes like coconut and metal. No more palladium chips charging up the arc reactor."

" _That's bloody fantastic,_ " Harry's face turned to the camera with a small smile. " _Was it necessary to blow up your mansion in the re-discovery of this element, then?_ "

"One of my best friends borrowed one of my suits without asking and we ended up fighting in the middle of the living room. It was a mess and now Pepper's mad at me and my PA, who is now Pepper's PA, by the way, turns out to have been lying to me all this time," Tony said and Harry stopped his whisking and nodded his head. "What are you making? Are you okay? From what I remember you said the spinning bowls were my fault because of the arc reactor but I'm not there and the bowls are spinning."

" _I'm just a bit stressed._ " Harry shrugged and the bowl he had been mixing floated over to a tart pan that was floating over to the oven and the contents in the bowl poured themselves into the pan. " _I'm making treacle tart to calm my nerves. Teddy broke his arm and I received a call from the headmistress about it. It's not anything major as far as she said and he's out of the infirmary already. I just worry for him, is all._ "

"You're a parent, of course you do," Tony said with a nod. He got up from the chair he was sitting on and wandered over to the kitchenette to see if there was any more coffee or if he had drank all of it in the last thirty-six hours. "I don't think I've slept in the last two days and a good chunk of my house is in ruins. There's no coffee left and I need a sandwich."

" _You need something more filling than a sandwich if all you've been eating and drinking is coffee for the last two days, Tony,_ " Harry said and shook his head.

"I had doughnuts somewhere around here!" Tony yelled and eyed U with a steely eye when the robot pointed towards Dum-E. Dum-E whirred his arm about and the box the doughnuts had been in crashed to the floor… with the doughnuts inside. "Dum-E! I'm going to dismantle you! Jarvis, call for some food. You useless piece of metal and bolts!"

" _Who are you shouting abuse to, if I may ask?_ " Harry asked.

"My robots."

Harry's head snapped towards the camera and he blinked up at it in confusion. " _Do you normally talk to robots that can't talk back? It'll turn into one of those horrid sci-fi movies one night and your robots will end up killing you._ "

"Jarvis can talk back since he's an AI," Tony answered and pushed Dum-E away when he tried to apologize. "I built them smart enough that they continue to learn about their surroundings. Jarvis has control of them and takes care of them on any other time that I'm not available."

" _Jarvis is your robot helper, then?_ " Harry asked with a small smile. " _I can't believe I talk with someone that has a robot helper. When you first mentioned Jarvis and his mainframe I thought you were talking about an artist and the frame the art was housed in. I'm assuming that a mainframe is computer or robot related and I shouldn't actually try to understand it because it'll go over my head completely._ "

"Jarvis is a super computer," Tony said proudly and patted U's arm and then Dum-E when he wheeled close enough.

" _Oh, bloody hell. You've gone and built Skynet,_ " Harry said and laughed. " _I only know what that is because Teddy loves those movies and I thought they were complete nonsense. Is it even possible to even build something like Skynet, though?_ "

"Eventually."

" _That's frightening to even think about,_ " Harry said. " _If you do end up making Skynet remember that I gave you good coffee and for that I should stay alive._ "

"Not to mention good cookies and muffins," Tony added and sat back on his chair. "Man, I would kill for one of your muffins right about now."

" _Next time you come over I'll have a selection of your choice at the ready for you, how's that?_ "

30.

_Hope you aren't already closed. Coming over with some friends for coffee. –Stark_

I wasn't aware I could write messages in this thing. I'll have a pot ready for you and I suppose someone has to eat the new blueberry muffins I made. –HP

Did you really destroy a good portion of Queens or is CNN exaggerating? –HP

How are you even alive? –HP

_CNN is a big liar and I avoided the things trying to kill me. –Stark_

Is everyone alright? –HP

_A couple of injuries that my lawyers will never hear the end of. Pepper wants to resign and I'm hoping coffee will make her forget about it. –Stark_

I don't think she likes the coffee I have. She wants one of those fancy foamy things from Starbucks. I have cake, though. –HP

_We're outside, is the door open? –Stark_

Tony put his phone away and opened the passenger side door of the car just as Harry opened the door to Bite Sized. It was obvious that Harry was just closing up and that he had made another allowance for Tony and stayed behind so that Tony could get his coffee.

"Aren't you closed?" Pepper asked as she got out of the car.

"It's alright. Please, come in." Harry smiled at her and motioned her inside. Rhodey gave Tony a look but followed Pepper into the bakery.

Happy and Tony were the last to make their way inside and Harry closed the door behind them when they entered.

"Mr. Potter, it's nice to see you again," Happy greeted with a bright smile.

Tony just made his way to the coffee pot and poured himself a mug and then took another mug out of the rack they were hanging from and poured a mug for Pepper.

"I've missed this coffee," Tony sighed into his mug and pushed the pot over to Rhodey. "It's really good Brazilian coffee."

"It's a pleasure to see you again as well, Mr. Hogan," Harry answered and smiled brightly at Happy. "How have you been since we last saw each other?"

"My life isn't without its excitements," Happy said and quickly turned away from Pepper and Tony as they both frowned at him. "How's your son?"

"He broke his arm playing sports but other than that he's static that I've gotten him a mobile. He's coming to spend his summer holidays with me since Andromeda, his grandmother, is going to be teaching a history intensive course at an all girls' school in Salem as a summer elective." Harry shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "Hopefully I'll be able to keep him entertained enough. I remember being twelve and having absolutely no idea what to do with myself half the time."

"So, Harry, this is my friend Lt. Colonel James Rhodes," Tony said before Harry could start talking to Happy again. He then motioned between Rhodey and Harry. "Rhodey, this is Harry Potter. He owns this bakery."

"Are you the friend that borrowed the Iron Man armor without asking for permission, then?" Harry asked and then widened his eyes and covered his mouth. "Sorry, that was rude."

"Yeah, same one," Tony said with a shake of his head. "He took the suit and then had Justin Hammer touch it and basically make it into a toy. Hammer is the most useless man when it comes to technology. Did you know he's the one responsible for all those explosions at the Expo? He actually got Vanko out of jail to build him killer robots that he calls Hammeroids."

"That's a rather unfortunate name to call robots. A slip of the tongue and they'd be 'hemorrhoids' instead," Harry shook his head and watched as Pepper nearly snorted her coffee. "Who named them?"

"I thought they were called Hammerbots?" Pepper whispered to herself and made eye contact with Harry. They each gave the other nods as if trying to figure out which one was the actual name of the killer robots that had destroyed Queens not even an hour before.

"Hammer is a tool that wouldn't know proper circuitry or weapons making if it bit him on the ass and danced around him naked." Tony shook his head and gulped down his coffee to only pour another mug full of the liquid, his face thunderous when he looked back up and stared at Rhodey. "Why would you go to _him_? Out of hundreds of weapons' makers you go to Hammer. Didn't you see the testing he was doing to make his own suits and how a guy is now paralyzed for life because of his stupidity? You were right there at the hearing, Rhodey, it couldn't be missed since I played it on every screen in the damned place."

"Look, you were armed and drunk," Rhodey said, his face set for an argument that was sure to come. "You were blowing things up for fun. It was going to end up with someone hurt at the end of that party and you know it." 

"Even at my drunkest I wouldn't have hurt anyone." 

"Not intentionally, no. But you could have!" 

"So, you just take my suit and then take it to the government when I very specifically said that I didn't want any of the Iron Man suits to be under any government's control? And not to mention the whole Hammer thing. If you keep moronic contracts with people like Hammer don't be surprised if a lot of things like The Ex-Wife happen again. Repeatedly." 

Tony was ranting and his hand would have been shaking with his rage if he hadn't been holding the handle of the mug so hard that he could feel it in his bones. Pepper had taken a step back and Happy looked uncomfortable next to Harry. 

"It wouldn't have happened if you had a contract like you used to, Tony," Rhodey said and Tony quite literally bristled. "We are left with nothing but second class weapons' manufacturers because you took all your weapons out of production. I knew the only way I could defend this country was with something that you had built. Anything less than that and our country is at a huge disadvantage against anyone trying to attack us." 

"I don't really think he really minds that you took the armor to protect your country, as a soldier it's something you'd be ordered to do, but I do think that he's angry that you took it without asking for permission," Harry tried to salvage the conversation. "That's a rather large breach of trust between friends. I'm sure he would have said yes eventually to you having one of the armors but you just took it from him and then went and took it to your government who then _modified it_ with the tools and weapons of a subpar engineer." Tony raised a brow and Harry shrugged. "Teddy was rather ticked that Hammer tried to copy the specs of the Iron Man armor to make his own. And the bloke started doing human testing before anyone was sure that it could support a grown man inside. I learned some big words like 'engineer,' 'specs,' and 'human testing'." Harry grinned. 

"Can you stay out of this, please?" Rhodey asked putting his hand up to ward off any more comments coming from Harry's side of the room. 

Harry put his hands up defensively and backed away. He made his way to the fridge in the corner and motioned for Rhodey to continue talking while he took a washcloth and began wiping down the fridge glass with it. It had to be said that Harry owned this place and that he could easily kick them all out but he was either way too British to do so or didn't want to kick Tony out and kicking Tony's friends out would result in kicking Tony out. And he did promise the billionaire blueberry muffins and Tony was looking forward to those. 

"You can keep the suit, Rhodey," Tony said calmly and ignored the raised brows from Pepper and Harry's smile from the corner. "But don't expect me to actually work with it. It's yours to do whatever it is you want to do with it. As long as the suit doesn't end up on the news actively being a bad image for Stark Industries, for me, or for Pepper. It's all out of my hands." 

"Okay, I get it," Rhodey agreed with a nod. "Look, I have to go report this whole thing to my superiors anyway. I'll talk to you later about it." Tonny nodded but Rhodey frowned. "I'm serious about this, Tony. I don't want this to be what messes everything up and I'm trying to do right by you but you have to understand that I also have a responsibility to the safety of this country." 

"Yeah, I know, buddy," Tony nodded again and whacked Rhodey on the shoulder companionably but still harder than was strictly necessary to hit a person. "Next time you're around you're buying the drinks." 

"I look forward to it," Rhodey grinned and with that everything was settled between the friends. 

"I have to go give a press conference about this, Tony," Pepper said and shook her head. She had barely drank her coffee but now managed to drink what was left in her mug without even wincing that it was already ridiculously cold. "I'll talk to the lawyers about the injured people and start up accounts to deal with the medical bills and do some damage control." 

"Why does Stark Industries have to pay for the damage?" Harry asked, and winced when everyone turned around to look at him. "I mean, this is all Justin Hammer's fault, isn't it? If it hadn't been for his robots and for getting Ivan Vanko out of jail this wouldn't have happened, yeah? The Stark Expo is loosing revenue because of what Hammer did and they can't get that back now because Vanko destroyed a good portion of Queens with Hammer's stupid robots." 

"He has a point, Pep," Tony said with a grin and turned to look over at Pepper to get her opinion on it. "He is completely responsible for all this. You were there when the cops got him, right? Just talk to my lawyers about what exactly Hammer did and if they need me to come in and talk about the specifics, including blatant theft of Stark Industries tech, you just call me up. Make sure that everyone that needs to gets sent to the hospital first or that they're already in the hospital, that's a priority right now." 

"I'll do the best that I can," Pepper said with a nod and then turned to the door. She was just about to open the door when she turned on her heel and smiled at Harry. "Thanks for the coffee. I needed the pick-me-up after the day I've had." 

"Wait a moment, let me get you some canary creams before you leave," Harry said and rushed to the back of the store towards the kitchen. 

"He's giving you canary creams; he's never given me canary creams before," Tony grumbled and Happy grinned but tried to hide it behind his hand when Tony gave him a look. "What the hell are canary creams anyway?" Tony asked Pepper just as Harry came back out with a box from the bakery in one hand and what looked to be a thermos emblazoned with the bakery logo as well. 

"Canary creams are custard creams," Harry said and handed over the thermos and box to Happy while Pepper gave Harry a hug to thank him. "Some people that I consider family modified some regular old custard creams and turned them into what they liked to call canary creams. It's two biscuits with a sort of vanilla pudding filling in the middle. It's not that big of a deal but they're honestly a lot different from the store bought ones I've had before." 

"Thanks so much for these, Harry," Pepper said and smiled again. "I'll make sure to stop by the next time I'm in New York City to at least say hello." She turned around and gave Tony a long look that Tony was positive was supposed to convey things like: 'Don't do anything stupid. Don't sleep with him. Don't cause a scandal. Don't explode anything,' amongst other things. 

"Don't you have a press conference to give, Pep?" 

" _Goodbye_ , Tony." 

**Author's Note:**

> If any of you are interested in the recipes for any of the pastries and the like (or the coffee) feel free to PM me or review about it. I've tried most of the pastries here from recipes on the internet. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!


End file.
